Locomotive gear drive



Jan. 9, 1940. L. F. WILSON LOCOMOTIVE GEAR DRIVE 2 Sheets-'Shet 1 Filed March 28, 1938 INVENTOR. lzyzzaon/fwdaom ATTORNEY.

Jan. 9, 1940.

L. F. WILSON LO COMOTIVE GEAR DRIVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March '28, 1938 INVENTOR. l yzzdawf 67/125022 ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 9, 1940 imirco STAT-es;

"new ore-ice This invention pertains in eneral to locoin the operation oi locomotives as at present c s u and w ll pe m free whe l n of the locomotive by disconnecting certain of the drive W e i on; e ower when, as the re ul of hi h vSpeed, the traetive adhesion of said drive Wheels is no longer convertible into tractive effort.

In a steam locomotive .of conventional .design, the number of pairs of drivers or drive Wheels is determined by the adhesion between the drivers and the track necessary- .to produce the required tractive efiort or. draW .bar pull. The tractive effort of a locomotive is .of course greatest at low speeds, and the tables upon which computations for locomotive designs fareb-ased consider l0 P. H. as the basis of computation for maximum draw .barpull or t ta'ctive -;efiort. As the speed of thelocomotiye is increased, the iractive effort decreases rather rapidly and at a rate, roughly speaking, of nearly 2.0 per cent for each 10 M. P increase in speed. If, there fer-e, the inactive-effort is 100 per cent at 10 M- i wi l be, r ughly pe n .20 per c nt at 50 M, P. H. and zero per cent at 60M. at which speed all the power developed hy the locomotive will he used driving itself and maintaining itsspeed without exerting any trad tive efifo-rt." I 7 It should he understood, of course, that the above .eXempli-ficationis illustrative merely for one design of locomotive with drive-wheels of a certain size and that considerable variations from the above figures occur in the operation of 1000- factors in the modification of the illustration given. That such modifications do occur is ob-.- vious from the fact tha many locomotives are apa l o de iver n trae v e forts at speeds far in excess of 6.0M. P. but en the other'hand, in some designs of locomotive with small driue s, the tractive efioit delivered been es Zero when a speed of approximately 4.0 is-reached. In any event, however, the tractiye effort diminishes with considerable rapidity as the speed of the loco-motive increases, and in all designs the tractive effortlhecomes zero at some, relatively high speed. H s

' The primary purpose of ,my present invention is to provide for the discontinuation of the apary.

the drivers.

plication of power" to certain of the drivers at a speed beyond'which the adhesion of these drive ers produces no further tractive efiort, and to thereafter apply mm/fer to only ene pair of drivers, the adhesion of which will be suilicient tov furnish all the 'tractive' effort produci-ble by {the locomotive at such speeds, 7

"In conventional locomotives, all of the drivers at each sidev are connected together by side reds, the weight of which is proportionate to the power requirements. To offset the Weight of-these reds, the drivers are provided counterweights, but since thecounterbalancing can be theoretically correct for one speed-only, the drivers are unbalanced at all other speeds with the result that hammer plows of considerable magnitude are imparted to the track at each revolutien o f Furthermore, the reciprocationoaf v the heavy side rods a/thigh speeds requ-ires "the expenditure of tremendcus energy and'in conjunction with the internal friction of the loco motive consumes so much power that the re} 'mainder. avail-able for tractiye effort is rapidly decreased as the speed of theloeomotive increased. v r I v v 'Ifheside rods connecting the drivers are undesirable for the further reason that the main driving rods between the driving pistons and the pair of drivers to which they are directly connected must necessarily be located outside ef' the side rods, The main rodpins on the dlYiV- ers must therefore extend outwardly from the tacesof the drivers adistance at least as great as the combined thicknesses of a side rod and a main rod. The power consequently must he applied through the rnain rods to'the pins at such a distance from the base of each pin-that the pin is subjected to heavy bending stresses. A e e e an to slas ending str s e necessitates a pin"of 1arge diameter which, in turn, s a e a co ondin ly l e a heavy. ain 99 ear n B th he p a he a g ad to th unbal nc d W i h and volv cor es mi ine n as he a mba ancins Wei ht, with t res t that stil h a ier blows are delivered to the track and road bedat each revolution of the drivers. H

Anot purpose o i ent n he e i to entirely, eliminate the objectionable side .I'Ods .CQIinecting the drivers and also the counten balancing weights necessitated by the use of such side rods. The eliminationof the side rods eliminates the counterbalancing of all the driversexcept thatpair to. which the main rods are connected. vThe counter-balancmg required on this pair of drivers is, however, much reduced because: first, counterbalancing for the weight of the side rod is entirely eliminated; secondly, the'weight of the rod pin is reduced since the pin is both shorter and smaller. Its reduction in length is equal to the thickness of the eliminated side rod, and its reduction in diameter is substantial because the driving force of the main rod is applied close to the base of the pin as a shearing stress, and the pin material heretofore required to resist the bending stresses is eliminated; thirdly, the size and weight of the main rod bearing is reduced in conformity with the reduction in the diameter of the main pin.

The elimination of the side rods and all counterweights of all drivers except one pair and the reduction of the counterweights on that pair eliminates to a large degree the hammer blows delivered to the track, conserves the power heretofore required in reciprocating the heavy side rods, and reduces the internal friction of the 10- comotive, with the result that the locomotive is enabled to run at higher speeds with less power consumption and with less injury and deterioration to the track and road bed.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive embodying the principles of my invention;

1 Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the locomotive frame and running gear; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig, 2.

On the drawings, reference character 4 indicates the boiler carried upon the frame structure including the side frame members 5, which in turn, is supported upon the solid axles 6, l and 8 to which are respectively fixed the pairs of drivers 9, and 12.

The locomotive here disclosed for illustrative purposes is of the46-.-4 type comprising three or smaller number of drivers.-

In the present instance, the connecting or drive rods 13 driven by the pistons 14 are connected with the intermediate pair of drivers ll through the rod pins Ill which, as will be observed, are quite short so that they are subjected to but slight, if any bending stresses, as practically all rods is resisted by shear stresses on the pins. Thisresult is attained by eliminating the side rods by which the drivers 9, H and 12 at each side of the locomotive are customarily connected.

Since my invention contemplates direct driving from the engines locomotive cylinders to the intermediate pair of drivers only, Ihave made provision for driving the remaining drivers from the intermediate driven drivers at such times as the adhesion of these remaining drivers can be utilized for the production of tractive effort. With this purpose in view I have fixedly mounted upon each of the axles B, l and 8 the gear wheels l5, l6 and S7, respectively, which are of uniform diameter and provided with'an equal number of teeth. A driving connection between these gear Wheels through which the front and rear pairs of drivers may be positively driven from the intermediate drivers is established by driving pinthe gear l6 and supported for rotatable adjustment upon the intermediate axle I. The pinions are so positioned that they are all continuously in mesh with the gear wheel I6, and pinions l8 and i9 may also be alwrnately meshed with gear wheel I5, while, similarly, pinions 2i and 22 may be alternately meshed with gear wheel H. The meshing relation of the pinions is determined by the adjusted position of the cradle '23, and this cradle is so constructed and the pinions are so arranged thereon that one pair of pinions, namely, l8 and 22 may be positioned to establish a driving connection between gear wheel l5 and the gear wheels it and H, or the other pair of pinions i8 and 2! may be brought into position to establish such driving connection, or in an intermediate position of adjustment of the cradle all of the pinions will be out of mesh with gear wheels 86 and Il, thereby disrupting the driving connection and thereby permitting the pairs of drivers 9 and 12 to run freely without connection to the power of the locomotive. In other words, when the driving connection is broken, free wheeling of all the drivers except one pair is attained.

When the locomotive is going forward, that is, to the left viewing Figs. 1 and 2 at speeds at which the adhesion of drivers 3 and I2 can be utilized, the pinions l8 and 22 are utilized to establish the driving connection and, by the rotation of the gear wheels with which they are in mesh, these pinions will be urged into driving relation with these gear wheels; 'In other words, the rotation of the gear wheels themselves is utilized in maintaining the pinions in driving relation so that the force required to maintain them in driving relation is less than it would be if the gears were rotating in the opposite direction. Likewise, pinions l9 and 2i are employed for the driving connection when the locomotive is running in reverse, thereby utilizing the same tendency and obtaining the same advantageous results.

While manually operable means may be employed for adjusting the position of the cradle to establish a forward or reverse driving connection between-the drivers or to permit free wheeling of all the drivers except one pair, I prefer of the power delivered through the connecting to employ automatic mechanism for'this purpose controlled by the speed of the drivers so that the locomotive will be automatically thrown into free wheeling when a predetermined speed has been attained and will be automatically returned to a direct drive of all the drivers when the speed is reduced to a point where the adhesion of all the drivers can be utilized for tractive effort.

The mechanism here illustrated as an exemplification of means for adjusting and controlling the cradle comprises a cross shaft 25 journalled on the side frame members 5 and provided'with levers 2'5 connected by links 28 with the side members 24 and 25 of the cradle. In any con venient position, preferably at one end, the shaft 26 is provided with an arm 29 which is connected by a link 3| with the operating mechanism, which, in this instance, is illustrated as a piston 32 reciprocable in a cylinder 33 to one end or the various drivers through thedriving pinions l8 and 22. For reverse purposes, the is-ad mitted to the cppositeiace of piston 32 forcing it to the extreme left of the cylinder, which will bring pinions it and 2t into driving relation with gear wheelslEi and l'l, respectively,under which conditionpower will be delivered to all of the drivers to propel thelocomotive in a-reverse direction. The valve .i'vli' may also be manually.

set to maintain the piston 32 in an intermediate position to maintainthe cradle in neutral posi tion, that with none of the pinions in mesh with the gearwheels-ifE-and ll. 7

For the purpose of automatically establishing a driving connection between the drivers when the locomotive is operating below a predetermined or closes, at a predetermined speed for which the by a pipe 42 with theinterior of. the cylinderfet' speedand for disrupting the connection to permi't free wheelingwherrthe locomotive is oper-i ating above a predetermined-speed, an automatic control is provided which is-driven from one of the indirectly driven axles. From the drawings it'will he observed that axle i3 is equippedwith a helical gear SE adapted "to mesh with and .drivea gearitfi connectedby. a .shaftfi'l with a governor 33 ioi a flyba'll or other preferred type. Through a suitable stem .orother connecting meanshoused in a sheath as, this governor opens governor. is set, a vent valve ll which is connected of the'operatinggear. ,The' valve ill will remain closed at all speedsbelow that for whichthe governor is :set,'rbut when thafit-fpredeterminedspeed is reached, the valve Jill will be opened, thereby relieving the pressure the cylinder so that the piston 32 willassumea neutral posi 'tion, thereby maintaining the cradle in neutral position with none of the 'drivep-inions in mesh with gear wheels at or "l l. tions,'drivers 9 and I2 will roll freely and-power will be applied onlyto [drivers H which will at such high speeds provide all the adhesion that can be converted into tractive eiiort. W'henIthe speed is again reduced to the predetermined, point, valve M will close, the pressure will be reestablished in the cylinder '33 at one sideof the piston, and the piston will be moved thereby into an extreme position to, reestablish the driving connection between-the drivers. I

It will be manifest, therefore, that in .accord ance with my invention" all of the drivers will bepositively drivenat low speeds to produce all available tractive effort but that when a speed:

' has been reached beyond that atwhich the ad hesion of some of the drivers; can be utilized,

these drivers are disconnected from the power and are permitted ,to free wheel until a lower speed is resumed, whereupon the driving connec-' 7 tion thereto will be automatically 'reestablished.

I It shouldbe noted that at all speeds of the locomotive whether power be applied to all of the drivers orwhether some of them be permitted to free wheel, the speed of rotation of all the drivers will be equal; Consequently, the driving Under these condiary of said intermediate gears;

pinions may be moved-into 'meshin gdriving' re= lation with the gear wheels l and I1 orwith,

drawn from meshing relation therewith without clashing of the gears or danger of injurytthereto.

It is believed thatmy invention, itsmode of ope erationyand many of its inherent advantages,

going without further description, and while I have shown and described that embodiment of -my invention which at present seems preferable,

it will be manifest that the structural details may be modified within wide limits rwithout depar-ting from the essence of the invention as defined in the following claims. i v

I claim: v

'1. In a locomotive having a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, the combination of means persaid pair of wheels, at -disconnectible connection fon'transmitting power from said one pair of connection includi-ng a plurality of alternately operable gears, and means for positioning said gears inoperative and inoperative positions.

. '2.' In a locomotiveincluding a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, the combination of means permanently connected to one pair of said -wheela gear wheels to drive thesame fixed with respect to and rotatable with each pair of drive wheels, intermediate-gears for establishing a driving, connection between wheels to drive all of said drive -wheels, an adjustable-member upon' which said intermediate gears are mounted, and

means for adjusting the position of said-member to dispose said intermediate gears in driving or non-drivingfrelation with respect to certain of saidfirst-mentioned gear-s.

3.1m a locomotive-having a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, the combination of driving mean-s permanently connected for driving onepa-ir of said wheels, gear wheels concentric with, fixed with respectto, and rotatable with each pair of,

drive wheels,,a-suppcrting member mounted con centricazlly with-said driven pair of drive wheels, intermediate gearscarried bysaid supporting member each adapted to mesh with [a plurality of said gear wheel-sic establish a driving connectionbetween said'pairs of drive wheels, and means whereby-said supporting member may be adjusted to establish or disconnect said driving connection.

4. In a locomotive having a'pluralityof axles and a pair of drive wheels fixed on each axle,

the combination of driving means permanently connected to drive one pair of said drive wheels, a gear wheel fixed on each of said axles, 'a cradle mounted for rotative movementupon the axle will be understood and appreciated from the fore? I manentiy connectedto one pair of wheels to drive V drive wheels to the remaining drive wheels, said I of said driven pair of drive wheels, a plurality of gears carried by said cradle, and means for rotatably adjusting the position of said cradle'for establishing or disestablishing a driving connec-.v

tion between said axles 'throughthe intermedi- 5. In a locomotive havinga plurality of axles and a pair of drive wheels fixed upon each axle,

the combination of driving means permanently connected to drive one, pair of said drive wheels, a gear wheel fixed uponeach of, said axles, an adjustably mounted cradle, a plurality of intermediate gearscarried by said cradle, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive for diate gears a driving connection between said adjusting the position of said cradle to thereby establish or disestablish through said 'interme axles in accordance with the speed of said locomotive.

6. In a locomotive having a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, the combination of driving means permanently connected to drive one pair ofsaid wheels, means including a disconnectible gear train for driving the remaining drive Wheels from said one pair of driven wheels, and means controlled by the speed of the drive wheels not directly connected to said driving means for automatically establishing and disconnecting said driving connection.

'7. In a locomotive having three axles and a pair of drive wheels fixedly mounted upon each axle, the combination of means permanently connected to the intermediate pair of drive wheels for driving the same, a gear wheel fixed upon each of said axles, a cradle rotatably mounted upon the intermediate axle, a plurality of pinions carried by said cradle, and means for rotatably adjusting the position of said cradle to thereby establish a driving connection between said axles through the intermediary of said gear wheels and pinions.

8. In a locomotive having three axles and a pair of drive wheels fixedly mounted on each axle, the combination of means permanently connected to the intermediate drive wheels for driving the same, a gear wheel fixed on each of said axles, a cradle rotatably mounted upon the, intermediate axle, a plurality of pairs of pinions carried by said cradle in position to permanently mesh with the gear Wheel on said intermediate axle, and means for adjusting the position of said cradle to bring either pair of pinions into meshing or mom-meshing relation with the gear wheels on the end axles.

9. In a locomotive having a plurality of axles and a pair of drive wheels fixedly mounted on each axle, the combination of means permanently connected with one pair of drive wheels for driving the same, a gear wheel fixed upon each of said axles, a cradle adjustably mounted on the axle of the permanently driven wheels, a plurality of driving pinions carried by said cradle in position to permanently mesh with the gear wheel concentric with the cradle, means for moving said cradle to position said pinions in meshing or non-meshing relation with the other gear Wheels, and means controlled by the speed of said non-permanently driven drive wheels for causing the actuation of said last-mentioned means so as to establish or disrupt the driving connection between said axles through the intermediary of said 'pinions at predetermined locomotive speeds.

10. The combination of a locomotive having a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, of driving means permanently connected to one pair of said wheels, and means controlled by the speed of the locomotive independently of the speed of said permanently connected drive wheels for transmitting power when in operative position from said one pair of 7 wheels to the remainder of said wheels.

11. In a locomotive having a plurality of pairs of drive wheels, the combination of means for driving. onepair of said wheels, disconnectible driving means for transmitting power from said one pair to the remainder of said wheels, and means controlled by the speed of said remaining wheels for connecting and disconnecting said driving means.

12. In a locomotive having three axles and a pair of driving wheels fixedly mounted on' each axle, the combination of means permanently connected to the intermediate pair of drive wheels for driving the same, a gear Wheel fixed upon each of said axles, means cooperable with said gear wheels for causing all of. said drive wheels to rotate at the same speed for driving purposes. and means for disrupting the driving connection between said intermediate Wheels and the remaining wheels.

13. In a locomotive having three axles and a .pairoi drive wheels fixedly mounted on each axle, the combination of means permanently connected to the intermediate pair of drive connection between said intermediate wheels and the remaining wheels, said last mentioned means including mechanism controlled by the speed of one or more of said remaining wheels for auto matically effecting said disruption.

LYNDON F. WILSON.

, CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTI ON. Patent No 2,1 6, 55. a January 9', 19110.

' LYNDON WILSON. It is hereby certified' that erro'rpa fi-pears in the printed specification of the-above numbered patent requiring;correction as follows'z Pa e first column, li'nel L for the word "efforts" read "eff-fort} page 3, second column, 1 line 2 claim 2, strike out "to drive the same" and insert the same after f'whee-ls" and before the coma in line 27:, same claim"; '-page h',-fecond"co1-' 'umn, strike out lines Zhto 51; inclusive, comprising 12,-, insert instead the following I Q 12; The conibinationin a locomotive having a plural ity ofaxles and-a pair of drive wheels fixed on each axle, of driving ine'an's permanently connected to .drive one pair of said drive whe=el's, a gear wheel fixed on each of said axles, a cradle "carried by the axle upon which "said driven wheels are moun ted, a plurality of intermediate gears mounted on said cradle each I in position to mesh with a plurality of said gear wheels where by tof'es'tabli'sh a driving connection between said axles, 'a'ndmeans for adjusti'ng the pbsi'tio'n of said cradle so as to withdraw said e rs from driving relation with one of said gear wheels;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read wit-h this "correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the "case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of February, A; D. l9LLO. I

Henr Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

